Chapter 23 — Parents Day
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gull flying over Kennebec Academy at 9:30 that spring morning would have seen the sun glinting on an acre of automobile roofs and people moving toward the classrooms as if drawn by invisible wires. The classrooms filled up, overflowed. Parents looked sideways at the bulletin boards eager to see their sons’ work distinguished. Extra chairs were brought in. Expectant silence settled. Each teacher in the half period allotted to him wanted to show his course, himself, and his boys at their best. Although none actually staged or rehearsed their “classes,” they were rather carefully planned and most went off smoothly. Mr. Floyd led Joe Rotch’s class of seniors through a review discussion of All My Sons with emphasis on the morality of supplying defective cylinder blocks to the Air Force because “everybody did it,” a discussion which quickly drew in several parents with very strong opinions. Mr. Marvin had Henry Phillips and Tommy Brown explain the derivation and application of the quadratic formula, a discussion to which Billy Edwards was able to add a little. Gus Cunningham, somewhat overstimulated by the presence of a room full of adults, started to question his Ancient History class on the fall of the Roman Empire, got carried away by his subject, delivered half a lecture himself, and got caught by the bell. Fritz Bauer, who had been through Parents’ Day many times, opened a discussion on oral history and listened with his class to accounts of Pearl Harbor, the McCarthy hearings, Viet Nam, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and Bath Iron Works launchings. French -1 unfortunately did not meet because Alice was in Portland in cap and gown receiving her degree and would not be back until afternoon. Alex Colburn produced the sensation of the morning. He had been holding a science competition in his chemistry class, the finals of which were to be judged by the assembled parents, parents of contestants included, as it was assumed that each would vote for his own, thus evening the score. Glenn Weatherby was first. He dissolved phosphorous in carbon tetrachloride and wrote invisibly on a piece of paper with the colorless liquid. As he held it up before the crowded room, the carbon tetrachloride dried, leaving the phosphorous, which scorched the paper, bringing out the script, SCIENCE IS FUN. But Glenn had been too heavy handed with the phosphorous so that before the last letters appeared, the entire paper was in flames. Startled, Glenn dropped the paper. It fell in the wastebasket, blazed up briefly, but was quickly extinguished as Mr. Colburn moved to the rescue. The other contestant, Andrew Travis, delivered a short lecture on the properties of metallic sodium, explaining that it is so active that it combines instantly with water, even with the water in the air, so must be kept submerged in a bottle of kerosene. With tongs he brought out a stick of sodium, cut off a crumb with his knife, carefully put the stick back in the kerosene and dropped the crumb in a dish of water. The crumb sizzled and buzzed about the surface as the reaction drove it. Andrew explained that the gas given off was hydrogen and that with a bigger piece; the heat of the reaction would ignite the hydrogen. He cut off a larger piece, turned out the lights so the flame would be visible, and dropped the piece in the water. The piece was too big. The reaction proceeded explosively with a flash and a loud report, splashing water all over the desk and the nearest spectators. Andy reached for the bar of sodium, now wet, hot, and giving off hydrogen, and was about to drop it back in the kerosene when Mr. Colburn grabbed his arm and shouted, “Not in the kerosene.” The dark, the flash, the bang, the flying water, and “Not in the kerosene” coming simultaneously, ignited panic. Mr. Colburn quickly hit the light switch, held up both hands high, and said 107
